The race to replace Ben Allen as our next State Senator representing District 24 is on. Nine candidates have declared their candidacy including West Hollywood City Council member John Erickson. The nine candidates are listed below:
- Sion Roy, who is the vice-chair of the Santa Monica College Board of Trustees.
- Nico Ruderman.
- Brian Goldsmith, a journalist, entrepreneur, and Democratic consultant who has filed papers with the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission.
- John Erickson, a West Hollywood City Councilman.
- Ellen Evans, who is involved with the Doheny Sunset Plaza neighborhood council and association.
- Eric Alegria, a former Rancho Palos Verdes Mayor and school district board member.
- Brittany McKinley, a member of the Los Angeles Human Relations Commission.
- Mike Newhouse, a member of the Los Angeles Planning Commission and a past candidate for Los Angeles City Council.
- Kristina Irwin, a Republican real estate agent, activist, and a Palisades Charter High School trustee.
Dr. Sion Roy was the first to declare for the 2026 Senate Race to replace Ben Allen, who is termed out of office. Roy is the vice-chair of the Santa Monica College Board of Trustees, is a resident of Malibu. Roy has twice been elected with the support of the Santa Monica Democratic Club, Santa Monicans for Renters Rights and other progressive advocacy groups. Roy, like WeHo City Councilman John Erickson runs with previous backing from the UNITE HERE Local 11.
Eric Alegria is a lifelong Democrat, former Rancho Palos Verdes Mayor, nonprofit executive, small business owner, and educator who currently serves on the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District Board of Education,
Mike Newhouse was appointed by former Mayor Eric Garcetti to serve as President of the West Los Angeles Area Commission, Mike was laster appointed by Mayor Karen Bass to serve on the Los Angeles City Planning Commission ,
Ruderman is from Venice Beach with no previous political experience. Goldsmith is a lawyer and jounalist from Venice Beach with no previous political experience. Evans is a co-founder of a neighborhood association and former board member of Equality California with no previous political experience. McKinley is a human rights and social justice champion with no previous political experience. Irwin is a Republican with little chance in District 24 with no previous political experience.
John Erickson is truly nothing more than a very aggressive and annoying bully. He is unsober and alcoholic personality of narcissistic behavior is his using anyone in political power with his shenanigans. He uses John Heilman, Lindsey Horvath and anyone not smart enough to understand John is using them for contacts and endorsements and funding and John is really shallow. He is narcissistic and abuses anyone who sees who he is…his daddy is Donald Trump as he is a younger version of him. 😆 🤣 😂 😹
A half-dead, disease-ridden potted plant would be a better choice than John Erickson. He is disingenuous on his best days, and as dangerous as Donald Trump (often using the very same tactics against anyone who dares to disagree with or challenge him). Political hacks like Erickson are the reason why the Democrats did not enjoy the electoral success we needed in this last election. His brand of toxicity is a turnoff to normal voters, and he must be stopped.
A fern is far more intelligent than Erickson who is a pandering opportunist but that’s how guys like this get elected. So I’ll donate to the others as Erickson has accomplished little as a member of this graft riddled council and I will ask my friends in the district to defeat him. He’s just a hack. Not a political hack because he’s merely a puppet not even a lousy politician but a hack with skeletons in his closet which will be brought to light sooner than later
Well, well, well, if it isn’t Erickson attempting his grand act of charades once again! His supposed dedication to our Latin community is little more than a façade – brought to you by the lobbying puppet masters at UNITE HERE- while he masterminds the art of sabotaging rent control in WeHo. This man and his merry band of council members have managed to turn a vibrant community of mom-and-pop stores into ghost town bingo, shutting down over 70 businesses because they wouldn’t play puppet to his hike-the-wage-and-watch-them-fail game. Renter protection? Yeah, right, Erickson wouldn’t recognize renter protection if it hit… Read more »
How about some name tags?
Thank you.
Thank you for publishing this list. There’s some very good candidates to consider other than Erickson. Who in my opinion, is the biggest buffoon I’ve ever met. I know some think voting for him will get him out of WeHo however, I’d rather toss the dice to see if he can get reelected to a third term in WeHo. Hopefully not but If he does get reelected, he would then be termed out.
All of these candidates are more qualified than John Erickson.